February 21
1947 Syracuse Herald Journal- Novak Racks 24 Points As Nats Wallop Bears Mike Novak led the Syracuse Nationals to its easiest home basketball victory, an 80 to 44 romp, over the Youngstown Bears before 1,400 at the Jefferson St. Armory last night to keep the locals in the thick of the playoff chase. Moline kept pace with the Nats by defeating Toledo. The two are in a fourth place tie only one-half game behind the third place Jeeps. The schedule for remaining games favors Syracuse and Moline in the battle with Toledo as each have 10 contests to play while the Jeeps have only five. If Syracuse can win six of its remaining 10 games it will at least tie Toledo even if the Ohio entry should win all of its games. In routing Youngstown last night the Nationals rang up their second highest point total of the season and displayed a fancy passing game that kept the crowd enthused during the contest. Novak dumped in shots from all angles in the first half to account for seven baskets and added three foul points. In the final half he slackened the pace and with Jerry Rizzo combined for some of the best passing plays of the season to set up scores rather than attempt to establish a league scoring record. In the second half Novak scored three baskets and a foul to give him a 24-point total for the engagement. A Syracuse discard, Charlie Butler led the visitors attack dropping in 16 points, 10 of which came during the first half, when he was responsible for better than half of the Youngstown points. SYRACUSE: Chaney, f (2-0-4), Sharkey, f (5-0-10), Rizzo, f (4-2-10), Novak, c (10-4-24), Nelmark, g (4-0-8), Exel, g (3-0-6), Meehan, g (6-0-12), Dugger, g (2-2-6) TOTALS (36-8-80). YOUNGSTOWN: Ticco, f (2-1-5), Mehen, f (1-3-5), Butler, f (6-4-16), Sattier, c (0-0-0), Herman, c (3-0-6), Shannon, c (2-1-5), Farrow, g (2-3-7), Mihalik, g (0-0-0) TOTALS (16-12-44). Score at half time- Syracuse 39, Youngstown 18. Free throws missed- Syracuse: Rizzo 2, Novak 3, Dugger 3, Nelmark, Sharkey, Exel 2. Youngstown: Butler 4, Mehen, Farrow, Mihalik. Officials- Melville & Ortner. 1955 Syracuse Herald Journal- Nats Want Pro Hoop Crown For Loyal Followers Demonstrating ability to reach peak heights in clutch games has just about wrapped up the Eastern Division pennant for the Syracuse Nationals. For the second time within 18 hours the Nats beat their closest rivals, the New York Knickerbockers, in resounding fashion 104-84 at the War Memorial yesterday afternoon. New York trails the Nats by four games, although the difference in the loss column is only three. Syracuse now concentrates on overhauling Fort Wayne to win the overall loop championship and the home court edge in all playoff tilts. The Zollners are two games in front of the Nats. The clubs meet three times again this season. The Nats have three tests on tap this week including an important fray with Boston in New York tomorrow night. Rochester plays here Thursday and the Syracusans will be host to Philadelphia Sunday afternoon. New York plays Philadelphia three times this week, Tuesday at New York, Wednesday in New Haven and Friday at Philadelphia. In addition the Knicks entertain Milwaukee Saturday and are at Fort Wayne Sunday. Boston, also only three games behinds the Nats in the loss column follows up its game with Syracuse by playing Milwaukee at St. Louis, Minneapolis at Minneapolis and Hibbing, and Milwaukee at Providence. The Nats soundly whipped their traditional rivals before the largest gathering of the season, 7,089 fans. The turnout which included 1,511 children resulted in a decision to play all remaining Sunday home games in the afternoon. It was a close grueling struggle throughout the first half in which the score was tied 10 times with the lead alternating on 14 other occasions. Once New York led by eight points. But in the stretch drive the Syracusans gave the crowd chances to cheer by dropping in 16 baskets in the final quarter. Jim Tucker tallied 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the final session while Wally Osterkorn scoring his first points since returning to the Nats fold sank the bucket that sent the score to the century mark. Dolph Schayes was outstanding. His “rainmaker” set shot was swishing the net in the second half and he would up as top Nat scorer with 28 points, high in rebounds with 11, and also credited with six assists. Schayes and Paul Seymour teamed several times on a fancy trailing play that found Seymour alone for shots. Nat Clifton topped New York scorers with 17 points. He kept the Knicks in contention during the second period with 10 of 12 New York scores in a five minute stretch. Ray Felix, who didn’t enter the game until the second half, fouled out quickly after netting 12 points. Syracuse trailed 22-19 at the quarter but led 46-44 at halftime. By the end of the third session the Nats enjoyed a 71-64 advantage and then cracked the game wide open by taking an 88-71 advantage. NEW YORK: Gallatin (3-3-9), Braun (4-4-12), Baechtold (4-4-12), Peterson, (1-0-2), Clifton (6-5-17), Felix (3-6-12), McGuire (3-1-7), Shue (5-1-11), Turner (1-0-2), Cook (0-0-0) TOTALS (30-24-84). SYRACUSE: Schayes (11-6-28), Rocha (4-4-12), Lloyd (5-5-15), Kerr (2-5-9), Seymour (5-1-11), King (3-3-9), Kenville (1-0-2), Farley (1-2-4), Tucker (6-0-12), Osterkorn (1-0-2) TOTALS (39-25-104). Score at halftime- Syracuse 46, New York 41. ---- From Highlighting Sports By Jack Slattery Knick Coach Lauds Nat Rookies Before the crowd became a crowd around the affable (before the game) New Yorker he was asked about Saturday’s game which Farley won with a one-hander from about 10 feet beyond the foul circle. “Your bench beat us. They are great. Al sent in Tucker and Farley and they murdered us. Your regulars didn’t have it and the kids came through. And my bench couldn’t do a thing. I tell you. You have the best bench of rookies in the league. Farley, Tucker and Kerr do positive things. Positive things regulars in the league don’t do.” “What do you mean, positive things?” he was asked. “I mean every move they make has a purpose. If Farley runs one way or passes a ball to a player it is because he has an objective in mind. Those kids don’t just run for the sake of running. They have a goal in mind before they move. Take Farley, for instance. He can play a ball game for you and score only two points and do a helluva job. Another guy in the league, a guy who has been around for three or four years, can score 15 for you and louse up the game. All three of those kids are great. That Tucker. What a job he did on Felix and Sweets. He’s going to be a fine ball player for the Nats. You’ve got a rough bunch to beat.” Which brings to mind, the fact that it might not have been mentioned recently- the Nats right now are the best basketball team in the world and are directed by one of the best coaches in the business. And leads to this question. “Why should a crowd of more the 7,000 be such a rarity?” After the game someone joked with Paul Seymour, “Do you think that Tucker will ever learn to get off his feet?” Paul replied, “The guy jumps so high nobody wants to follow him in the pre-game layup drills. Brother, can that boy get up in the air!” Category:1946-47 Category:1954-55 Category:Nationals Category:February 21 Category:Butler Category:Cervi Category:Chaney Category:Dugger Category:Exel Category:Farley Category:Kenville Category:Kerr Category:King Category:Lloyd Category:Meehan Category:Nelmark Category:Novak Category:Osterkorn Category:Rizzo Category:Rocha Category:Schayes Category:Seymour Category:Sharkey Category:Tucker